Thesis ZA excited about upcoming debut album
Sondela to advance duo’s Xhosa folk tales
After seven years of making and releasing singles, duo Ayanda Charlie and Ondela Simakuhle – known as Thesis ZA – are excited about their upcoming debut album titled Sondela.
Their nine-track album is due at the beginning of June and aims to advance their Xhosa tales while also tapping into their influences in jazz and classical music.
Charlie said the album is a personal project that is proof of what patience and dedication can bring forth.
“The album title Sondela is a word that comes up a lot in the songs that are on the album. The word means ‘come closer’, and for us it felt like it was an invitation for an audience to come closer and essentially share what we have,” said the 28-year-old Charlie.
“It took us this long because we wanted to be independent and not wait for the right partners to fund it. Every song has been written over time and its music has been developed over the years and therefore captures moments of those eras,” she said, adding that the music dates back from 2013, when they decided to work together, until 2020.
Coming from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, respectively, they are known for songs Iphupha in 2018,
Iintloni and house song
Sunxama.
Simakuhle trained in classical music since the age of eight while Charlie is an advocate for her native language Xhosa and of telling tales they grew up hearing –
stories and music that shape their identities.
They met at varsity where they studied towards different professions – Charlie studying media and English literature while Simakuhle studied media and jazz performance.
“We decided to work together after we had done a few performances around campus as a six-piece band but about a year later, when everyone else wanted to focus on their degrees, Ondela and I became the last two standing,” said Charlie.
“We had then started playing around with a few original ideas, we built a style of writing that is influenced by classical music but also had a strong foundation on the Xhosa language and also the folk music we had grown up with.”
The two women are also full-time employed.
Simakuhle said juggling music and her career in marketing tech in the pharmaceutical industry has been a challenge for her personally, and it took a lot of discipline in terms of time management and prioritising to get to where they are.
“It feels incredible to finally be at this point in our journeys. We were ready to release music two years ago but we feel now is the right time. The waiting has not been in vain where we can now formally introduce Thesis ZA to the country.
“The album is a reward for all the hard work we have put in, without any help, and we believe that this will inspire more musicians to believe in their own abilities to make their dreams come true – because no-one else will,” Simakuhle said.